An image forming apparatus such as a printer includes a plurality of openable and closable covers on an outer surface of an apparatus body for the purposes of replacement of toner cartridges, maintenance such as recovery from sheet jamming, a change in discharge place of sheets, or the like.
In the apparatus, when one cover is opened, another cover is simultaneously opened. Specifically, when one cover is opened, a snap fit for engagement with the apparatus body in the other cover is smoothly released so that the other cover opens, and thus the other cover does not become an obstacle to opening and closing of the one cover. According to this configuration, the other cover that does not need to be opened is forcibly opened when the one cover is opened, which is inconvenient.
Generally, each cover is provided to the apparatus body so as to be openable and closable independently. In this configuration, it is necessary to provide the covers with space therebetween so as not to interfere with each other when opening a cover.
However, for the purpose of reducing size of the apparatus body, it is necessary to provide the covers closely. In this case, one cover can be opened and closed without interference in a state where another cover is closed. However, in a state where the other cover is kept at a half-opened state, when the one cover is opened, a rotation locus of the one cover may interfere with the other cover. As a result, the one cover and the other cover collide with each other so that the covers could be damaged. Specifically, in the apparatus in which the other cover is engaged to the apparatus body with two engaging parts (e.g., snap fit) in a closed position, if one of the engaging parts is released so that the other cover is in the half-opened state, the other cover is inclined with respect to a surface of the apparatus body and interferes with the rotation locus of the one cover.